A/N: Apologies for the prolonged delay in getting this chapter in place – work has been insane, and we had over a week's holiday to celebrate my birthday. As usual, rest assured, the saga will continue.

21

Reality came back to James sharply and swiftly. He suddenly found himself staring at the top of his four poster, feeling completely awake and alert. For a moment, anyway – that was before the searing pain in his leg forced him to clamp his hand down on top of it with a grimace. The haphazard repair job he, Sirius and Peter had managed on it only a few short hours ago definitely left something to be desired, but going to Madam Pomfrey was out of the question.

It would be easier to hide than Sirius', at least – he had a long cut on his cheek where, in Padfoot form, he had taken a nice cut from one of Moony's claws. Peter alone remained unscathed, as he had been able to dart around and in between the three larger Marauders as they had 'played'.

That was the best way James could think of to describe it. Played…

For a moment that seemed to last a very long time, they all stared at each other – stag, rat, dog and wolf. Moony was clearly unaccustomed to visitors, and he let loose with a low, menacing growl that was instantly answered, to everyone's surprise, by Padfoot, who stepped forward. Wormtail instantly scurried behind the large, black dog that was stepping towards the even larger wolf. Moony blinked in surprised and backed up a bit as Padfoot barked—not a menacing bark, but almost a playful sound that seemed to intone that there was no harm meant from their presence.

James rolled out of bed, gingerly touching his feet to the floor and feeling a fresh wave of pain. 'Damn,' he muttered to himself as he shakily got to his feet.

'Damn is right,' Sirius groaned from within the confines of his bed. 'Maybe I should say I'm ill,' he added after a moment.

Moony barked back in a sound that seemed most unbecoming of a werewolf – it was almost a question, or an acquiescence to the fact that there was more than one authority in the room now. Moony was used to being the master of his own domain, but clearly, there were now others. Did this mean a challenge, or an alliance? Was this friend or foe?

Peter appeared from the bathroom looking bright eyed and cheerful. 'I think that all went rather well,' he said happily.

James chuckled dryly. 'Easy for you to say,' he replied.

'Yeah,' Sirius muttered from inside his four poster. 'You didn't have to do any heavy lifting.'

Moony barked louder this time and then moved—so quickly that no one was ready for it. He batted Padfoot in the head with one of his long arms, again, not a gesture of violence but almost to say 'come and play', and the fight was on—Padfoot charged into Moony's midsection and they crashed to the ground, as Prongs and Wormtail watched in a combination of amusement and trepidation.

'He's got a mean left hook when he's a wolf, that's for sure,' James sighed.

'Do you want me to take another look at your leg?' Peter offered.

James smirked. 'When I want my leg to fall off, Peter, you'll have my permission to try,' he said, earning a bark of laughter from within Sirius' four poster as Peter turned slightly pink. 'Come on, Sirius—it's almost breakfast time.'

'I thought we agreed I was saying I was ill?' Sirius demanded.

'If I can walk, then you can show your face,' James said firmly.

Sirius opened the four poster, revealing his face with a long cut down his right cheek. 'And just what will I say?' he demanded.

James shrugged. 'You cut yourself shaving?' he suggested.

'Only muggles use razors,' Sirius snorted.

'And given your fascination with muggle items, everyone will believe you were stupid enough to try it,' James replied earning hysterical laughter from Peter this time as Sirius gave him an ugly look.

Moony and Padfoot were a dizzying blur of fur and claws, barking and snarling at each other as they fought. Moony swung out again, this time cutting a groove in Padfoot's face. Padfoot roared in fury and clutched Moony's arm in his jaws, clamping down hard and causing Moony to yelp in pain. Prongs had seen enough and he lowered his head and rammed his way between them, batting each of them aside with his antlers. Moony scowled and kicked out with on of his powerful legs, jabbing Prongs in one of his hind legs with so much power that a sharp twinge of pain that signaled something had broken surged up Prongs' leg. Prongs felt immense pain and then fury—he swung his head violently to the side, smashing his antlers into Moony's torso and sending the wolf crashing to the ground.

Peter was smiling again. 'Well, at least he was hurting you and not himself, right?' he said.

'Big consolation,' Sirius muttered as he gingerly touched his face. 'Shaving, you reckon?' he said with a resigned sigh. 'And how do we explain your limp?'

'Fell off my broom while practicing Quidditch,' James said easily—the idea had come to him on their way back from the Shack only hours before.

Sirius snorted. 'No one will believe that,' he said dismissively.

James chuckled. 'We'll say I was practicing some new hotshot move to show Evans. Maybe she'll take to me like a wounded kitten, nurture me back to good health,' he said with a sigh.

'Right,' Sirius muttered. 'And I'll be made Minister for Magic. Are we going now or what?'

As a trio, they made their way down the staircase into the common room which was already filling up with students for the day. James did his best to conceal his limp, but it wasn't particularly easy.

'And what have you done to yourself, James?' Alice Dearborn asked with unabashed amusement as she folded her arms in front of him. Lily was standing off behind her—her eyes flickering back and forth between James' limp and Sirius' face.

Moony barked at Prongs, pawing at the ground as he sized him up. Prongs lowered his head, shaking his massive antlers back and forth in an intimidating manner, as if daring Moony to come have a go….

'Fell off my broom,' James said easily causing Alice to raise her eyebrows.

'You? Fell off your broom?'

Frank suddenly appeared, a skeptical look on his face. 'You, the one who lashed your jelly-arm to the broom so you wouldn't fall?'

'You who outflew You-Know-Who?' Mary McDonald called from the couch.

James threw up his arms. 'As embarrassing as it is, yes, even the best of us fall from time to time,' James said in as foppish a tone as he could manage, earning eye rolls from Frank and Alice.

'And what have you done to your face?' Lily asked Sirius in a cool voice.

'Equally embarrassing. I was shaving,' Sirius said.

Lily blinked. 'You tried shaving?' she scrutinized the cut. 'With what, a chainsaw?'

'English please, Evans,' James replied.

Lily appraised him skeptically. 'A muggle instrument used to cut down trees,' she said, earning some appreciative 'ooohs' from those in the room who were not overly familiar with Muggle contraptions.

'Anyway—breakfast?' Peter said in a high voice. James resisted the urge to kick him.

The common room emptied out until only James, Sirius and Peter remained. 'Come on, you lot, we've got to be better at lying than this,' James hissed at them.

'Sorry! I'm not good at lying!' Peter moaned.

'Well just shut it then and leave it to us,' Sirius hissed. 'If anyone finds out, we'll be in big trouble.'

'Do you think anyone suspects?' Peter asked.

James swallowed. 'I'd bet my left arm that Evans certainly does,' he muttered. 'And I'd bet my right arm that she's probably going to try and catch us at whatever it is we're up to. I think we're safe where everyone else is concerned, though.'

'Right. So you just keep handling Evans like you have been and we'll be all clear,' Sirius said bracingly.

James sighed. 'How come I have to keep handling her?'

'We've just established that Wormtail is dreadful at lying,' Sirius said easily. 'And we all know that you're the one she's going to come to with any accusations. When's the last time she accused me of doing anything?'

James chuckled. 'Interesting how you always seem to escape unscathed, isn't it?'

'I think it means she likes you,' Peter said earnestly.

'Thanks for the vote of confidence, Peter, but I was rather hoping for a different method of showing affection than interrogation,' James quipped to another roar of laughter from Sirius as they exited the common room. The hallway was empty as far as they could see, with everyone else having already taken off for the dining hall.

Sirius sighed loudly. 'It's almost unfair—in the old days before your truce, I'd have said this would be the perfect time for a Slytherin ambush. I've been yearning for a fight,' he muttered.

'Then allow me to oblige,' came the voice of Severus Snape. James dove to the ground without thinking, his Quidditch reflexes coming to his defense as a spell sailed over his head. He turned the dive into a roll, pulling his wand from his robes as he regained his feet just in time to see Mulciber send a spell directly into a surprised Peter's face. James whipped his wand and non-verbally sent an Impediment jinx at Mulciber who deflected it at the last second.

Sirius was backing up quickly, deflecting spells from both Snape and Avery, as Mulciber and Regulus Black pushed towards James with a bombardment of jinxes and hexes.

'Accio wand!' James called, summoning Peter's wand to him as he hurled up a shield charm just in time to deflect a volley of stunners back at Mulciber and Regulus. With both wands, he pushed forward: 'Stupefy!' he called. Mulciber was quick, deflecting the spell, but Regulus was caught in the arm and sent spinning to the ground.

'What the hell happened to our truce, Snape!' James bellowed as he nimbly dodged a bizarre curse from Mulciber which sent green water flying at him.

Snape diverted his attention from Sirius, leaving Avery alone to battle him and he hurled a complex curse at James, who had just deflected a heavy stunner from Mulciber. He threw himself backwards but the curse got him in the foot. James felt as though he had been grabbed by the Whomping Willow as he was lifted and then hurled through the air until he crashed into a wall heavily and slid to the floor.

'OI!' Sirius yelled as he dodged forward, ducking a disarming spell from Avery whom he then punched in the face. 'Levicorpus!' he yelled, successfully hoisting Mulciber into the air.

Regulus was back on his feet, and with a kamikaze yell he leapt onto his older brother, taking them both to the ground. In the meantime, James had regained his feet, his wand pointed at Snape who similarly pointed his wand at James. Snape's face was contorted with undisguised loathing. 'You,' he hissed.

'And you,' James replied in a voice of surprising calm. 'May I ask what brings you in such ill tiding?'

'Don't pretend that you don't know,' Snape hissed. 'Half the school is talking about it!'

James cocked an eyebrow. 'Our pending Quidditch match?' he asked innocently. 'I can't help it that your team is simply dreadful. Bad selection of players to blame, if you ask me.'

'This isn't about Quidditch!' Snape said as Regulus and Sirius rolled around behind him, Sirius finally succeeding in pinning his brother to the floor as he reached for his wand.

'Ah, so this would be about Evans, then?' James asked.

'Don't even say her name!' Snape snarled.

James rubbed his chin. 'I'm a little surprised that you brought Tweedle Dumb, Dumber and Astoundingly Dumber with you, then,' James said with a nod at the upside down Mulciber on the last count. 'Wasn't it your great friends that called her a Mudblood?'

'Don't change the subject! You—y—you KISSED her!' Snape roared.

'I did,' James replied. 'What of it?'

Snape spluttered incoherently but he stopped dead when a wand pressed into his back. 'Drop it,' Sirius said angrily.

Snape complied, allowing James to take in their surroundings. Mulciber still hung from the ceiling, Avery was trying to stagger back to his feet, and Regulus was bound by magical ropes on the ground. Peter had not moved. 'Nice work, Padfoot,' James said with a smile.

'Not at all, Prongs,' Sirius replied. 'So what do we do with this one?'

James considered Snape for a moment and smiled maliciously. 'Nothing,' he replied.

Snape and Sirius both looked at James with mirrored looks of amazement. 'Come again?' Sirius replied incredulously in a voice that could have belonged to a four-year-old.

'Nothing,' James replied. 'As I haven't cast so much as a spell against Snivellus here, I have not violated any terms of the truce set out for us by the lovely Ms. Evans,' he said, allowing the smile to linger as Snape's face turned an ugly shade of puce. 'Snivellus will have to explain how it is that Peter came to be taken to the hospital wing.'

Sirius looked at Snape, clearly waging a battle in his mind on whether it would be more satisfying to watch Snape argue with Lily over the possibility of hexing him, but reason won out. 'You're lucky, Snivellus, that Prongs is so devious,' he said.

'You watch your back, Potter,' Snape hissed. 'I'm going to end you.'

James yawned theatrically. 'I think I've heard this before—change the record, Snivellus,' he said dismissively. 'Winguardium Leviosa,' he then called firmly, levitating Peter over to them. 'To the hospital wing, then.'

'Deprimo,' Sirius said quickly, and the wands of the Slytherins were sent catapaulting down the hallway. 'Just being careful,' Sirius said with a sanctimonious salute to Snape as the he and James walked off to leave them there stewing. 'You really think this is the best idea?' Sirius whispered as they faded out of earshot. 'I could still hit Snivellus from here…'

James shook his head. 'Play it cool and follow my lead. Snivellus will be his own undoing.'

Sirius rubbed his chin. 'It's good mental warfare, Prongs but what if…'

James glanced at his friend. 'What if, what?' he asked.

Sirius looked at him with worry. 'What if he comes up with some of his own?'